HappyRant

Yahoo! Purple Acts of Kindness

I'm a firm believer in the power of the business world to do good. Yahoo's Purple Acts of Kindness program is a great example.

What exactly is that? I'll let Yahoo! explain...

Yahoo! seeks out individuals who are doing great work in their communities, and amplifies their good deeds by putting some purple power behind their efforts. Leveraging the reach of the Yahoo! network, we hope these stories will touch many of our 500 million users, and serve as an inspiration to commit similar acts of kindness.

The most recent story shines a light on an 8 year old girl in Topeka, Kansas...

This remarkable third-grader from Topeka, Kansas, was inspired by Yahoo!’s Be a Better Planet campaign to encourage Topekans to use reusable shopping bags at the grocery store. Her grandmother contacted Yahoo! to see if we could help jumpstart her campaign.

As part of our Purple Acts of Kindness program, we sent Jaide 900 (purple) canvas shoppings bags. She’ll sell them for $5 a piece at local supermarkets to raise money for organizations that preserve the environment and improve the lives of kids, including Keep America Beautiful, the Topeka School Fund, and the American Heart Association.

What I love about this is not so much the concrete effect this has (let's be honest - 900 shopping bags is only going to have so much of a positive impact on the planet). It's the ripple effect. It's the fact that Yahoo! is shining the light on people who are putting the effort into making their corner of the world a better place.

The more positive efforts people are exposed to, the greater the likelihood that they will feel moved to take some kind of positive action themselves. With its reach to hundreds of millions of people, this has the potential to inspire far beyond the scope of the individual projects Yahoo! highlights.

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Paul Hawken & Blessed Unrest

Looking around at what's happening in the world, it's tempting to throw up your hands in despair. So much of what we're exposed to in the major media focuses on doom and gloom. 

But every once in a while a voice comes along that offers a perspective of hope and possibility. Last week I was in San Francisco at the BALLE conference (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies), and I had the good fortune to hear one of those voices, Paul Hawken.

Hawken, who recently wrote the book Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming, maintains that, contrary to the major media perspective that everything is going to hell and there's nothing we can do about it, there is a massive, decentralized, ad hoc movement underway.

He describes it as an immune system response. In this article, adapted from Blessed Unrest, he writes:

Historically, social movements have arisen primarily because of injustice, inequalities, and corruption. Those woes remain legion, but a new condition exists that has no precedent: the planet has a life-threatening disease that is marked by massive ecological degradation and rapid climate change. It crossed my mind that perhaps I was seeing something organic, if not biologic. Rather than a movement in the conventional sense, is it a collective response to threat? Is it splintered for reasons that are innate to its purpose?

He describes the "movement" further...

The movement can’t be divided because it is atomized—small pieces loosely joined. It forms, gathers, and dissipates quickly. Many inside and out dismiss it as powerless, but it has been known to bring down governments, companies, and leaders through witnessing, informing, and massing.

The movement has three basic roots: the environmental and social justice movements, and indigenous cultures’ resistance to globalization—all of which are intertwining. It arises spontaneously from different economic sectors, cultures, regions, and cohorts, resulting in a global, classless, diverse, and embedded movement, spreading worldwide without exception. In a world grown too complex for constrictive ideologies, the very word movement may be too small, for it is the largest coming together of citizens in history.

This paragraph struck a chord for me...

The promise of this unnamed movement is to offer solutions to what appear to be insoluble dilemmas: poverty, global climate change, terrorism, ecological degradation, polarization of income, loss of culture. It is not burdened with a syndrome of trying to save the world; it is trying to remake the world.

Hawken's message was inspiring and hopeful. Everybody I talked to about it came away feeling a renewed sense of possibility. That the individual work we all are doing isn't just pissing in the wind, but part of a cumulative effort that can make a difference.

Perhaps my friend I attended the conference with said it best when she said, "I'm a T-cell." She didn't need to change the world - she just needed to keep focusing her efforts on her corner of it, and others would be doing the same.

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Persistence: 75 year old lung cancer survivor skies to North Pole

Let's say you're a 75 year old woman who grew up in Harlem. And that you're a lung cancer survivor. Now let's say you want to ski to the north pole. Only you've never skied, and you don't have the thousands of dollars it's going to take to pay a tour operator to take you there.

What are the odds you'll actually do it? If you're Barbara Hillary, they're pretty good.

Hillary, of Averne, N.Y., grew up in Harlem and devoted herself to a nursing career and community activism. At 67, she battled lung cancer. Five years later, she went dog sledding in Quebec and photographed polar bears in Manitoba.

Then she heard that a black woman had never made it to the North Pole.

"I said, 'What's wrong with this picture?"' she said. "So I sort of rolled into this, shall we say."

I love a good "success against the odds" story. I love it even better when the main character succeeds because they just can't be bothered to say, "it can't be done." They're too busy making it happen. That fits Hillary's pursuit of her North Pole dream to a T.

Overcome lung cancer? Check.

Too old? Ha!

Fitness concerns? Hire a personal trainer.

Can't ski? Take lessons.

Don't have the money you need? Get private donors to sponsor you.

With her quest for the North Pole complete, Hillary is focusing on other adventures:

Hillary says she hopes her journey will inspire hope in other cancer survivors. She is already planning a new adventure: that of a global-warming activist.

"I'd like to go and lecture to different groups on what they can do on a grass-roots level (to fight global warming)," she said.

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A walking, talking symbol of hope

Eighty year old Osceola Wesley spent the first forty years of his life descending ever deeper into a cycle of drugs and prison. He has spent the last forty years helping others break that cycle.

[In Coatesville, FL], he is a revered figure, for his work as a counselor, for the antidrug marches he led, for the hundreds of people he helped escape addiction and the lives he redeemed and redirected.

"He's a true community hero," says former Chester County Commissioner Colin Hanna, who joined Wesley's antidrug marches during the 1990s. "He's a natural leader with a wonderful way about him. He can be impatient with people who don't share his sense of discipline and self-reliance, yet he has a gentleness and tenderness of heart."

His effectiveness stems in part from what Chester County Judge Anthony Sarcione calls Wesley's "pedigree" - as a drunk, a heroin shooter, a man so desperate for a high he used to boil off the alcohol in paragoric acid to harvest the trace opiates.

Today, Sarcione says, Wesley is "a walking, talking symbol of hope."

The turning point came when he finally hit rock bottom.

He can cite the exact date of his turnaround: Oct. 25, 1973, the day when he dragged himself to the VA hospital in Philadelphia for detox. He had no choice. All his veins were collapsed. His body was pocked with abscesses. His ankles were so swollen he could barely walk.

"I had no more flesh to shoot in," Wesley says. "I had run out."

Wesley's life has taken its toll on his body. In 2002 he was given no more than a few months to live. He was recently diagnosed with diabetes and hepatitis C. With all that in mind, I started seeing his story from the perspective of close to the end of their run. Specifically, I started seeing it from the perspective of someone looking back and asking, "What was my life about? Did it matter?"

Wesley's story could easily have been different. He could easily have let it all go to waste. Instead, he had an enormously positive impact on hundreds of lives. If I put myself in his shoes and ask, "Did it matter," the answer would be a resounding yes.

That's what I want to be able to say when I reach the end of my run. Each of us - regardless of where we are in our lives - has the possibility to say, "Starting today, I choose the path that matters." And the decisions we make and the directions we take from here on out are the way we'll get there.

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Athletes for Hope

I'm no huge fan of a lot of the professional athletes I see out there in the limelight. Too many seem to have developed extraordinarily in their physical domain, but not so much as people. But every once in a while someone comes along that makes me go, wow. The athlete that uses his or her status to make a positive impact, rather than just a source of ego fuel.

This morning, with Athletes for Hope, I ran across twelve of them...

A group of 12 athletes -- the ultimate superstars -- who have rewritten the record books in their own sports are now passing that passion for excellence on to the rest of the country. But the prize is bigger than any medal or any ring. This prize, and the formation of the new charity Athletes for Hope, is about making the world a better place.

It started with soccer superstar Mia Hamm, tennis great Andre Agassi and cycling legend Lance Armstrong. The long-established champions of giving back decided to reach out to their fellow athletes to see if together they could do even more.

Now they have assembled a dream team of philanthropy that includes gravity-defying skateboarder Tony Hawk, explosive running back Warrick Dunn, racing king Jeff Gordon, Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, former tennis phenom Andrea Jaegger and boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

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Huggable Heroes

Often I find myself inspired by the stories I discover of people working to make the world a better place. But sometimes I'm just humbled. If I ever start to get too full of myself or too puffed up about what I'm doing in the world, stories like twelve year old Talia Leman's put it in perspective.

Leman has made headlines before for her community service: She has raised more than $340,000 for causes such as hurricane relief, cancer and AIDS, and founded her own charity, RandomKid.

That boggles my mind. She's twelve! When I grow up, I want to be just like her.

Tania is one of the nominees for Build-A-Bear Workshop's annual Huggable Heroes award. If you ever need a shot of inspiration, trot on over and take a look at the past years' winners.

The Huggable Heroes award was inspired by Nikki Giampolo, "a young girl who loved life, loved children and loved teddy bears."   

She shared that love by giving bears and their hugs to all those around her, including her doctors. In 2002, at the age of 15, Nikki lost her life to cancer. Her family and friends shared with Build-A-Bear Workshop Nikki's story of courage and her hopes of helping children with cancer. Moved by Nikki's life and the way she lived it Nikki's bear was created and supports children's cancer research and other children's health issues.

Huggable Heroes, like Nikki, are special people who do things both big and small. Nikki's generosity provided the inspiration for our Huggable Heroes program.

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A Story of Faith

When an Amish friend of Melynna Hewitt's shared the bad news that her seven year old niece had been diagnosed with cancer, Hewitt sent her a stuffed rabbit. But she had a strong desire to take it a step further.

"I literally felt an extreme urge, a persistence that said you really need to write Mary Ann a story.  You really need to tell her why a stranger who lives 800 miles away would send her a stuffed animal."

What came out was A Story of Faith, a tale about a young Amish girl in Indiana about to start treatment for cancer, and the stuffed rabbit named Faith that walked in and became her "bestest friend." That story turned into a journey of giving and hope Hewitt would never have anticipated when she sat down to write it.

Melynna never meant for her story to go where it did - illustrated by a teacher friend, offered to a publisher, and accepted too.

But along the way the Hewitt's decided to put their story of faith to work.  They published it themselves, spent $15,000 of farm budget, and watched miracles take place.

The book really did help that little Amish girl. Hewitt says, "As of December the 31st we have, not only recouped one hundred percent of our expenses, [but] we have sent the family $23,400.00."

It hasn't just been beneficial for the little girl's family. It's been good for Hewitt. As she describes it...

"It's been the most personal, inspirational part of my life I've ever experienced."

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Troy Evans - From Desperation to Dedication

What would you think if I told you how much I admire a guy who went to prison after robbing five banks at a point where he had been strung out on drugs for half his life? Would you wonder about my judgment?

You wouldn't if you knew the rest of the story, which I've been reading in From Desperation to Dedication: An Ex-Con's Lessons on Turning Failure Into Success.

At 28, Troy Evans' number one priority was getting his next fix. He had alienated his family, his friends, and had gone through numerous failed attempts at treatment. His plan if the police ever caught him in the midst of a robbery was a suicidal "death by cops." He was at rock bottom.

Fortunately, as he sees it, he was arrested and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. While in prison, a moment with his young son, who he had only ever known outside of prison through a drug-induced haze, provided the spark he needed to commit to turning his life around. He discovered hope, and ultimately discovered that others could believe in him. His persistence in pursuing an education eventually landed him a college scholarship and he began studying for the first of the two degrees he earned while incarcerated.

Today, Evans is a motivational speaker, traveling around the country and telling his story. 

In a way, it's a story we've all heard. Guy experiences hard knocks, hits bottom, and (cue the inspiring music) has an epiphany that turns his life around. And yet it's a story we don't hear enough.

Not least because it's proof of what we can do, regardless of where we are in our lives and the challenges we face.

It's so easy to get lost in our own challenges. It's easy to feel like throwing up our arms and saying, "There's no hope. I give up," if things get especially trying. But the reality is, whatever our challenge, there almost always is hope. It's just not as easy, or as clearcut, or as fast as we would like it.

Stories like Troy Evans' are a great reminder.

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Wheelchair backflip

Imagine being born with spina bifida. Then imagine being confined to a wheelchair since you were eight. Now imagine being a fifteen year old putting that chair through the paces in a half-pipe at the local skate park.

You try new tricks. You fall. You get up to do it again until you perfect it, just like all the other kids. Not exactly a stereotypical picture, is it. Welcome to Aaron Fotheringham's life.

It's easy to spot Aaron Fotheringham spinning, "grinding" and stopping for a moment atop the rim of a half-pipe before plunging back into the mass of teenage boys zipping around the neighborhood skate park.

He's the one in the wheelchair, the one with the bright yellow helmet, the one who does the back-flip that has made him an Internet and international celebrity. His friends slap him high fives as they pass on their BMX bikes and skateboards. They call him "Wheels."

"It's cool what he does," says 14-year-old Cody Manring, leaning both elbows on the handlebars of his red BMX bicycle. "He's inspiring other people."

Adults call the 15-year-old Fotheringham one of a kind, a pioneer carving a niche somewhere between BMX and skateboarding.

He learned the the flip at Woodward West, an action sports summer camp in California.

He finally accomplished the flip on the night before he was to go home.

"He's definitely out of the mold," says Buzzy Sullivan, a coach at Woodward West who videotaped Fotheringham's first flip. "He's not following. He's making his own path."

Fotheringham does stationary spins like a BMX rider and "grinds" like a skateboarder — riding an edge with the wheels of his chair straddling a railing or curb.

You can see a video of Fotheringham here.

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Who are the REAL richest people in America?

What's your definition of rich? One obvious definition is having bucketloads o' money. For Tim Richardson, an inspirational speaker based in San Francisco, wealth isn't so much about what you have as what you give. To promote that idea, he's putting out a new richest people list with a different spin - The REAL Richest People in America...

The REAL Richest People in America is about people making a difference. This inaugural list focuses on richness in giving with the aim of inspiring businesses and individuals to give their profits and their time.

Recipients will be selected not because of what they have or profit but because of what they give or what they do. “True richness comes from the love of giving back to society, and happens whether you make $10,000 or $10 million a year” says list founder Tim Richardson.

This nominees reflect the best about the joy of giving back; using their time and resources to make a difference in the world.

So who's rich in Richardson's eyes? There's a list of nominees on the web site.

Using that giving-back definition of wealth, how rich are you? How rich do you want to be? What's going to get you there?

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